Ingot-forming apparatus



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. ILLINGWORTH.

V INGOT FORMING APPARATUS. No. 394,695. Patented Dec. 18 1888.

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(No Model.) I 2 sheets-s een 2. J. ILLINGWORT'H;

INGOT FORMING APPARATUS.

No. 394,695. ,Patented 1360.18, 1888.

INVENTOR= whfl/Ill/ingwonbiv,

BY ATTY'S.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN ILLINGlVORTH, OF NEVARK, NEV JERSEY.

lNGOT-FORMING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 394,695, dated December 18, 1888.

Application filed August 2, 1887. Serial No. 245,992. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J OHN ILLINewoRTH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ingot-Molds and the Process of Casting ingots; andl do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the artto which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to certain improvements in that class of molds for casting ingots shown in cotemporaneous applications for patents serially numbered 240,87 5 and 241,163, in which the ingot is cast by the successive pouring of molten metal into the top of the mold, the casting being lowered through the open bottom of the mold and thereat broken off into ingots.

The object of the invention is to secure a more perfectly automatic movement of parts, whereby the ingot is cast with greater convenience and rapidity.

The invention consists in the improved ingot-forming apparatus and in the arrangement and combination of parts connected therewith, substantially as will be hereinafter set forth, and finally embodied in the clauses of the claim.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in each of the several figures, Figure 1, Sheet l is a front elevation of the improved apparatus. Fig. '3 is a side elevation of the l i wcring device. Fig. 3 is a plan of a clamp for grasping the ingot in the lowering movement. Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 are detail views of certain parts of the lowering mechanism, as will be hereinafter described. Fig. 8, Sheet 2, is a central vertical section taken through the apparatus and lowering device. Fig. 9 is a plan of the head of a hydraulic arm or piston adapted to engage the lower end of the lowered body-casting and break the same into ingots, and Fig. 10 illustrates the under side of the funnel employed in connection with the mold.

In said drawings, a indicates abase, frame, or bed, at the top of which is a fulcrumal bearing, Z), and at the bottom of which is a stop-bed or floor, 0, adapted to limit the downward movement of the ingot. The fulcrumal bearing is perforated to allow the ingot to pass therethrough, the perforation (Z conforming more or less closely to the size and shape of the ingot. It prevents the ingot from moving laterally to any material extent when the ingot is being broken or severed from the body of the casting, and it prevents said casting from being pivotally turned in the mold during said severing process. Above said bed or frame a is arranged the mold e, a space about equal to or somewhat greater than the length of the desired ingot being formed between the bottom of the mold and the top of the fnlerumal plate orbearing to allow for the play of a certain reciprocating clamp or grasping device,f.

The mold c has slightly-tapering interior walls and is preferably provided with an ordinary water-jacket, of any ordinary construction, adapted to receive water from suitable supply-pipes by any of the means Well known in this branch of manufacture. jacket may be an integral part of the mold or of separate parts, as in Fig. 8. In the latter case the jacket may be braced, as at h 72 in an y suitable manner.

At the upper end of the mold is provided a funnel or feed, h, to feed the molten metal down through the center of the mold-chamber, the said funnel or feed being of the usual construction, save that it is provided on the under side thereof, where it rests upon the top of the mold with a series of air-ducts, i. As the molten metal passes through the central perforation, h, the air in the mold-chamber 71 escapes through the ducts i, so that no airbubbles are formed in the flowing metal.

The clamp or grasping device f, for lowering the ingot, consists of two arms, f f, Figs. 3 and 8, which are pivoted or hinged together, as at f ,near Where they grasp the ingot, and at their opposite ends are inclined, as at f Figs. 2 and 3, and enter into engagement with correspondingly-inclined surfaces, f, of a piston or rod, is, arranged in connection with a hydraulic cylinder, F, of any suitable con- Said.

' thereby are at their upper limit ready to grasp the ingot. A downward movement of the pistoncauses the inclined sides f of the piston to force the said arms f together to grasp the ingot, as will beunderstood.

To secure a more certain engagement and disengagement of the grasping-arms from the ingot and obtain the same automatically, I provide for a resistance to the movement of the arms and the block carrying the same, so as to cause the inclines f f above referred to, toco-operate more certainly. To this end I have provided a block or carrier for the grasping-arms, which moves vertically with the grasp in g-arms and engages certain means, hereinafter described, for obtaining resistance to the movement of said block. Said block 11 is provided with an aperture, 01, through which the grasping-arms pass, as indicated in Fig. 1, the said aperture extending horizontally to hold the grasping-arms, so that they will extend laterally into engagement with the ingot. Said block is also provided with a horizontal aperture or passage, 02 through which the piston passes. At the corners the block is provided with suitable ways-such as the recesses wi -to engage or receive corner-postsor tracks m, between which last the said block slides. The slot 77. is large enough to allow to the arms a limited movement to and from one another in releasing or clamping the ingot. To secure the resistance referred to, I have slotted the posts or tracks m-that is, formed chambers or recesses 0, Fig. 4, therein. Into the recesses I have arranged repressible bolts 19, having rounded ends, which project slightlybeyond the inner walls of the posts or tracks m, so as to engage the block or. The said bolts are pressed by a spring, q, and are held in proper operating relation by the nut r, secured upon the shank s of said bolt in any ordinary way.

In the downward motion of the' block or at the beginning of the stroke it strikes the bolt 19 and is retarded thereby, so that greater exertion is required to pass the block below the bolts, so that the inclines f of the arms f" are with certainty caused to press against the corresponding inclines, f, of the piston, and the arms are thus driven together and caused to hug the ingots. Similar repressible bolts are disposed at a lower part of the arms, as at i, so thatin the return movement of the block the block will be'retarded in a like manner, and the arms will be disengaged with certainty from the inclines of the blocks and will be allowed to separate under the influence of suitable springs, to, Fig. 3, disposed between the arms, and thus released from holding engagement with the ingot. lhe weight of the block a and the arms f is counterbalanced more or less completely by weights '0, suspended from suitable ropes or chains, 10, arranged upon pulleys 20 Fig. 1. It will be observed upon reference to Fig.

8 that the piston moves independently to a limited extent in the block "r1.,'this movement being sufficient to secure'the clamping operation already described; but its movement is limited by stops 7t it, so that after the clamping operation is effected the piston will certainly and effectively carry the block with it. To break the ingot from the body-casting with greater convenience, I prefer to arrangethe cylinder and piston as shown in Fig. 8,

where w indicates a cylinder disposed horizontally n early in line with the lower end of the casting,'and 'w' is a piston adapted to be projected from said cylinder. Said piston is provided with laterally-extending fingers or bearings 10 adapted to engage the opposite sides of the ingot. \Vhen the ingot is low-' ered, the piston, is drawn or forced out, so that the said fingers in a vertical position are latsevered from the body-casting quickly and effectively In carrying out the operation I first arrange a suitable plug or block in the bottom of the mold, preferably provided with a dovetailed recess or projection in the upper end thereof, into which the molten metal can run. Said plug or block closes the lower end of the mold-chamber and projects below the bottom of the mold to allow the grasping-arms f to be secured thereon. The molten metal is then fed to the mold to form the ingot. \Vhen the metal is sufiiciently set, another quantity equal to the desired ingot is fed to the mold,

which will fill or nearly fill the mold. After this has set at its outer part the two united i11- gots are lowered, so that the first cast portion projects below the bottom of the mold. I may, before the second casting is fed upon the first lower the said first casting a few inches to free it from the sides of the mold, so that in subsequent operations there will be no clan-- ger of premature breaking. After lowering the ingot the chamber thus formed in the mold.

is again filled, so that a heavy body of metal is poured upon the metal partially hardened and before the latter has shrunk at the interior to form the pipe or the objectionable flaw or recess. This molten metal last cast flows into the contracted head of the metal previously cast, filling the recess, central ap- 

